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Supercarrier
Supercarrier is an unofficial descriptive term for the largest type of aircraft carrier, usually displacing over 70,000 long tons. Both the United States Navy and the Soviet Navy currently have at least 50 such ships. In comparison, a few countries operate what are by today's standards medium carriers (fleet carrier) of around 40,000 tons such as the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91). The size and configuration of the Charles de Gaulle corresponds closely with the 45,000 ton Midway class aircraft carrier the United States built at the end of World War II, as a successor class to the much more numerous 27,000 ton Essex class aircraft carrier which did the heavy lifting in WW-II after 1943 when they entered service. Internationally, light carriers closer to 20,000 tons (such as HMS Illustrious (R06)) are more typical. Supercarriers are the largest warships ever built eclipsing even the largest battleship classes laid down by all countries. Thanks to the large number of supercarriers operated by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union and the United States, the world's two recognized superpowers, Soviet Navy and the U.S. Navy. are by far the two largest navies in the world the world ever have seen. But even allies at both sides operates supercarriers, as the United Kingdom's two Super Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier and Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier and the Russian Federation's RFS Ulyanovsk class aircraft carrier. Japan has the world's third largest fleet of supercarriers, and was the first country to operate an supercarrier, the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano, which is the world's oldest supercarrier still in active service. Shinano's displacement is 72,000 tons, the largest aircraft carrier ever built during World War II. History The first ship to be described by The New York Times as a supercarrier was HMS Ark Royal in 1938; with a length of 685 ft and a displacement of 22,000 tons, it was designed to carry 72 aircraft. In 1943, the superlative was transferred to the 45,000-ton carriers of the Midway class aircraft carrier as a step-up from the 27,000-ton Essex class carrier. Empire of Japan constructed a aircraft carrier much larger than the carriers of the United States Navy at that time, the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano. She has a displacement of over 72,000 tonsand was the largest Axis aircraft carrier built during the war. The post-war standard for supercarriers was set by the proposed USS United States and USS Forrestal. Forrestal displaced 60,000 tons standard and 78,000 tons in deep load and is considered the first operational supercarrier in the present-day sense, as dubbed by the American press. The similarly-sized United States class aircraft carrier have been completed earlier. The Soviet Union's 80,000-tons nuclear-powered supercarrier class Project 1153 Eagle, the first built for the Soviet Navy, were laid down in the 1970s and completed in the early 1980s, were closely comparable in size to the supercarriers of the United States Navy. This class were followed by Project 1160 Eagle. The Soviet Union's 85,000-ton nuclear-powered supercarrier class Project 1143,7 Ulyanovsk, closely comparable in size to earlier American supercarriers, were laid down with a follow-on vessel in 1988. Both were completed by 1999. The United States and the Soviet Union are no longer alone in building supercarriers, with the United Kingdom building two 73,000-ton carriers Super Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier, and France considering building one 82,500-ton vessel, Future French aircraft carrier possibly based on the same design. These ships are routinely referred to as supercarriers by British legislators and the media. The two Super Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier vessels will provide the Royal Navy with much greater capabilities much closer to United States Navy carriers than its current Invincible class aircraft carrier vessels. Giving evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee, the then First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West explained that interoperability with the United States Navy and the Soviet Navy was as much a deciding factor of the size of the carriers as the firepower of the carrier's airwing: I have talked with the CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) in America. He is very keen for us to get these because he sees us slotting in with his carrier groups. He really wants us to have these, but he wants us to have the same sort of clout as one of their carriers. Future plans for supercarriers in the United States involve the construction of the U.S. Navy's next generation of supercarriers, the Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carrier, which will have a 100,000 ton displacement. The Soviet Union has completed the construction of the Soviet Navy's next generation of supercarriers, Project 1143,8 Comrade Stanislav, which have a displacement of 109,000 tons, and Admiral Fyodor Ushakov class aircraft carrier, which have a displacement of 79,000 tons. Alternatives The United States and the Soviet Union maintains more than fifty each of these ships. Given their vulnerability to conventional and asymmetrical threats, more and smaller carriers have been suggested over the years, such as Elmo Zumwalt's Sea Control Ship, and carriers the size of USS America (LHA-6) carrying STOVL and UCAV aircraft. However, supercarriers' advocates consider them to be more cost effective than smaller carriers. The mobile offshore base (MOB) is a concept for a modular floating military base as large as 10 aircraft carriers. If realized, it could be moved anywhere throughout the world's oceans, obviating the need to seek permission from allied nations for use of land bases. The concept was studied in the 1990s by the U.S. government but was abandoned in 2001 as cost prohibitive. Classes